For PK-K level, practices are often scheduled with 2 teams at a field and teams will practice together, clinic style among the two teams to work on basic skills.
For 1st-2nd grade, practices may often be scheduled with a 15 minute overlap. The team arriving should begin their practice with a warmup and throwing drills in the outfield to begin their practice.
For 3rd-6th, practices may overlap by 30-45 minutes. The team arriving should schedule their 30 minutes of pitching and catching practice in the outfield. If overlapping by 45 minutes, also add throwing warmup in the outfield before taking the field.
It can take longer than you'd expect to park, walk to the field, and get your child ready to get on the field. For the benefit of your child, their team, and our volunteer coaches, please make sure your child is ready to start practice at the scheduled start time with glove on and ready to hit the field. Please let coaches know in advance if you will be late or miss so they know they can start practice without you. Building the reputation as the family that is always late does not translate to desirable outcomes when your players move into older age levels.
To establish a better sense of team and community for all of our in-house players, please have your child wear the uniform provided to them for practices and games. We understand that laundry can sometimes get in the way of this policy so it's fine if you are unable to from time to time.
Coaches will be equipped with practice plans and training to make the 1 hour practices as efficient and fun as possible for your little ones. At the PK-K level, practice plans will involve learning the basic rules of softball, learning how to be a great teammate, and developing the basic fundamentals of throwing, catching, hitting, fielding, and base running.
1st-2nd Grade Machine Pitch Coaches will also focus practices on continuing to develop the fundamentals of throwing, catching, hitting, fielding and base running, but also develop each player's "Softball IQ". Additional drills will be incorporated into each practice to introduce more advanced concepts such as positional responsibilities, force outs, tags, advancing bases and understanding different scenarios based on outs and runners on base.
3rd-6th Grade Fastpitch Coaches will also focus practices on continuing to develop the fundamentals of throwing, catching, hitting, fielding and base running, but also develop pitching and catching skills and advanced baserunning knowledge. Additional drills will be incorporated into each practice to introduce pitching and catching and advanced concepts.